parasites

Every hour of every day people around the world are living with and working to resolve food safety issues. Here is a sampling of current headlines for your consumption, brought to you today with the support of Alchemy Systems. Vietnam vets suffer from rare liver cancer linked raw fish A recent study shows some Vietnam veterans are dying from… Continue Reading

Editor’s note: This guest opinion column was originally published on www.healthambition.com and is reprinted here with permission. I’d say most of us have joked at some point that we’d love to have a tapeworm that would allow us to stay slim while stuffing our faces with treats. However, if I really had a parasite, I think… Continue Reading

Previous outbreaks were traced to fresh produce, ranging from imported cilantro to berries

Almost 1,000 people in the United States have contracted infections from Cyclospora parasites since May 1. Health officials are baffled, saying they haven’t been able to discover the source of the microscopic creatures, which infect humans via contaminated food and/or water. There were 988 laboratory-confirmed victims in the ongoing outbreak, spread across 40 states, as… Continue Reading

Whether state officials have downplayed the danger of rat lungworm parasites, the fact remains that Hawaii is in the midst of an outbreak that has given at least three people from the mainland lasting impressions of the island state. The mainlanders — a California couple on their honeymoon and a Seattle woman who was set… Continue Reading

Hawaii is experiencing an uptick in rat lungworm disease. Six confirmed cases on Maui and another three confirmed cases on the Big Island were reported over the last three months with no deaths. That’s about as many cases as are ever experienced over the course of a year. Some cases do get more public… Continue Reading

Salmon lovers have a new reason to opt for roasted instead of raw. Scientists have documented that the Japanese broad tapeworm has made its way to the waters of the North Pacific and is thriving among the salmon population there. Published in the February edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases the findings of a research team… Continue Reading

This summer’s surge in reports of illnesses due to the parasite Cyclospora in Texas has prompted health officials in the Lone Star State to go looking for a common source. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has received reports of 182 Cyclosporiasis cases from around the state this year. Last year, 200 Cyclospora… Continue Reading

If the world’s food safety scientists act now, they have the opportunity to create a global network of microbial data that will dramatically improve the ability to track and combat disease outbreaks of all sorts, including foodborne illness outbreaks, significantly tackling the spread of disease worldwide. That was the argument put forward at the International… Continue Reading